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Closed bridge ruins track meets
GIRARD
The Girard cross-country track team has been unable to host home meets at Liberty Park because the bridge at the park entrance is closed.
Even though people can walk across the bridge, that’s not enough — they have to be able to drive in and park for the meets, which draw anywhere from five to 20 schools, team members said.
“We don’t want a walking bridge,” freshman Heleena Thomas told council at its meeting earlier this week. “We want a bridge you can drive across.”
That way, their league will let them resume home meets at the park.
The bridge has been closed since the spring, when an inspection revealed it wasn’t safe.
The team’s season began in August and ends at the end of October.
Mayor Jim Melfi told the team the city solicited bids to redo the bridge and got only one for $145,000.
He said the bid was too expensive, and that according to state law, there has to be more than one bid or the city cannot accept it.
“We have applied for an Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant to rebuild the bridge,” he said. He said the city will know by the end of the year whether it will get the grant.
The city also is looking at other options.
Councilman Steve Brooks, D-1st, said the Trumbull County Engineer’s office might do a study on the bridge for the city, and a private company in town might be willing to build the bridge as long as it has the engineering plans to do it.
Councilman at-large Joseph Shelby said the city might be able to provide shuttle service to the park for home track meets if the bridge doesn’t open for the 2015 season.
“The shuttle is a good idea,” said Ron Chipps, whose son Jordan, a junior, is on the team. “That has to be passed by the league,” Chipps said after the meeting.